More than four million low-income Californians will have to make ends meet with less food aid starting today, as a federal stimulus boost to the food stamp program has expired.

The cut to a family of four comes to 36 dollars per month. Advocates for low-income Californians say some struggling families could miss meals.

“That might not seem like a lot for people who don’t have to worry where their next meal is coming from,” says Jessica Bartholow with the Western Center on Law and Poverty. “But we know it is significant to those households who rely on food stamps.”

Cristina Cañaveral with Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth says more than sixty percent of California food stamp recipients work, but don’t earn enough to make ends meet.

“Food stamps are essentially a survival issue for so many families, including families working full time, maybe one, or even two low wage jobs,” she says.

The Republican-controlled U.S. House passed a farm bill that would cut food stamps by four billion dollars annually. The Senate version contains 90 percent fewer cuts to the program.